The Package
The Package is one of the seven short films comprising the anime adaptation of the Halo universe, Halo Legends Halo.Bungie.Org - Halo Legends: Polite Questions Answered HereIGN.com - SDCC 09: Halo Legends In-Depth. A CGI film, The Package follows the Master Chief and an elite squad of SPARTAN-II super soldiers as they execute a top-secret mission to retrieve a highly valuable UNSC asset on a Covenant Assault Carrier. Summary In the year 2535Thel became a Kaidon in 2535, and during the Package, John is a Master Chief, a rank he was granted in 2535, at which time Thel was a Major. By adding two and two together, one can detirmine that The Package takes place sometime during 2535, aboard an ONI stealth ship, the Spartans, consisting of John-117, Frederic-104, Kelly-087, Solomon-069 and Arthur-079, are briefed by an intelligence officer. A Covenant Fleet is momentarily trapped in the system. It is carrying an important "package" which the Spartans must retrieve. The stealth craft de-cloaks and deploys the Spartans in Booster Frames. The team make their way past an array of plasma weaponry and attach a scanning device to a CCS-class Battlecruiser to search for the "package's" frequency. Solomon detects the package on one of the ships. As soon as he leaves the vessel's hangar, he discovers an Antimatter Charge, which destroys the ship and kills him. Soon, the Spartans detect the same beacon frequency coming from all the ships around them. This confirms that the Covenant knows what the commandos are after. John deduces that the target is actually in the Assault Carrier Flagship. Arthur is killed while trying to cover Kelly from pursuing Seraphs. The remaining Spartans board the Assault Carrier and take cover inside a Bubble Shield. After making their way through thick Brute and Grunt defenses, the Spartans are ambushed by a team of Elites. Fred parries a swipe from an Energy Sword with his Spartan Laser, and kills his attacker with a combat knife, distracting John's own attacker and holding the Elites off long enough for John and Kelly to proceed. The Fleet Master gives the order to detach part of the hull, hoping to leave the Spartans stranded in space - Kelly manages to propel John back into the ship, but is left in the vacuum. John manages to recover the "package" - revealed to be Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, founder of the SPARTAN-II program, in cryo-hibernation. John releases the doctor and tries to effect an escape. However, their path is blocked by Thel 'Vadamee, who challenges John to a sword duel, giving the Spartan his other Energy Sword. Despite being disarmed in the duel, the human is saved when the Shipmaster decides to detach the entire lower hull section and jump to Slipspace after clearing the magnetic interference, leaving the Spartans and many Covenant survivors stranded. Thel can cause no harm as John and Halsey are sealed off from him. As he is lifted away from the soon-to-be-scuttled hull, he curses the Shipmaster with the words, "A thousand hells await you!" Now free of immediate Covenant danger, the two board a Covenant escape pod and are promptly pursued by Seraph fighters. They are saved by Fred and Kelly, who have captured another Seraph. The survivors are recovered by the stealth ship, which soon leaves the system. Once they are aboard, John swears that he'll never let another comrade die again.The Halo Legends, The Package Appearances Characters *John-117 *Frederic-104 *Kelly-087Official Xbox Magazine, Holiday 2009, page 94 *Solomon-069 *Arthur-079 *Catherine Elizabeth Halsey *Thel 'VadameeHalo Legends, The Package - DVD subtitles confirm that the Major is Thel. *Unnamed ONI Commander *Unnamed Elite Bridge Officer *Unnamed Fleet Master Organizations *Covenant Empire **Covenant Navy *United Nations Space Command **UNSC Navy ***UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command ****SPARTAN-II Program ***Office of Naval Intelligence Species *Human *Sangheili *Unggoy *Kig-Yar *Jiralhanae Vehicles *Assault Carrier *OF-92/EVA Booster Frame *CCS-class Battlecruiser *''Seraph''-class Starfighter *Covenant Escape Pod *Unnamed Stealth Spacecraft Equipment *Bubble Shield Weapons *M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenade *M7/Caseless Submachine Gun *M90A Close Assault Weapon System *MA5 Individual Combat Weapon System *Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword *Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol *Type-25 Grenade Launcher *Type-51 Carbine *Weapon/Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galileian Nonlinear Rifle *Type-25 Carbine *Plasma Cannon *Close Quarters Combat Weapon System *Antimatter Charge Trivia *The art gallery seen on Halo Waypoint shows an Elite wearing an Assault Harness. However, it is incorrectly referred to as the Flight Harness, another armor permutation of the Elites. *The equipment used in The Package seems more advanced than the UNSC was previously thought to use. Rather than relying on photo-reactive panels for optical camouflage, the stealth ship uses a Covenant-style active camouflage system. Likewise, the Booster Frames seem to be at least partially protected by energy shields. Both of these technologies may have been reverse-engineered from Covenant technology. *Solomon's HUD states that he is holding a Spartan Laser and SMG, even though he is holding an assault rifle. *All Covenant species in the film are depicted to have green blood, a trait none of them actually possess. *The Package reveals that some of Cortana's lines were references to quotes from Halsey. However, the line "No thanks to their driving, yes," is mentioned by John-117, who is also referencing Halsey. *Despite the fact that Frederic-104 remains behind to fight two Elites, the Shipmaster's console continues to display three hostiles moving down the corridor, though it only should have shown two, John-117 and Kelly-087. This error can be seen on two occasions. *The assault rifles that the Spartans are equipped with do not seem to eject spent cartridges. This may be an oversight, but the Spartans might have been using caseless ammunition, which would be practical for such a mission. *John's assault rifle incorrectly sounds like an M247 GPMG. The SMG also incorrectly sounds like an MA5C Assault Rifle. *The SMGs may have a larger-than-normal clip since the Chief is able to fire continuously. However, it is possible that he reloads every time he is off screen. He also has no problem with the recoil of the SMGs while shooting. *The MJOLNIR Mark IV armor worn by John-117 and his fellow SPARTAN-IIs appears very similar appearance to the Mark VI and the distinct coloring of each Spartan's armor, and their HUD resembles the Mark VI in Halo 3, and it even includes the shield meter, even though the Mark IV does not have shields, MJOLNIR shields were not in use until 2552. This is considered a stylistic interpretation/representation, but it may be a different variant of the Mark IV not seen before. *The Booster Frames seem to have chaffs / flares to trap Covenant plasma torpedoes. It is unknown why the UNSC vessels are not equiped with those flares. Gallery Image:SpartansLegends.jpg|Four of the Spartan-IIs being briefed on the mission. (From left to right: Fredric-104, Arthur-079, Solomon-069 and Kelly-087.) File:CCS Legends.jpg|A CCS-Class Battlecruiser firing its plasma weaponry. File:117 Legends.jpg|John-117 flying his Booster Frame. File:John Booster.jpg|John-117 entering the launch bay of the CCS-Class Battlecruiser. File:Halsey n' John.jpg|John-117 and Dr. Halsey facing 'Vadamee. File:Fred 2.jpg|Fred-104 firing a Spartan Laser aboard the Covenant carrier. Sources Package, The